By Ayen Infante
04/23/2008 [ tribune.net.ph ]
One Asia Development Corp., the property arm of biscuit maker Republic Biscuit Corp., expects sales to be flat this year despite its aggressive activities in both residential and commercial projects.
Company president Victor Manarang told reporters in a news conference yesterday that the company was forced to revise this year’s revenue target from P550 million to P400 million as a result of the strong peso which reduces the value of dollar remittances of Filipinos working overseas.
He said despite the increase in the number of Filipinos working abroad every year, the strong peso last year up to early this year has resulted in a slowdown in the sale of residential projects.
Manarang noted a substantial shift of the company’s major clients to those buying commercial units from residential units. This year, he expects sales to be a complete reversal from last year as sale of commercial units is expected to corner up to 70-percent of total revenues.
“Given the situation, it does not warrant an optimistic target,” he said.
One Asia earlier broke ground for the 10-hectare One Asia Business Center, the first information technology (IT) park of the company that will rise in Biñan, Laguna.
The company is currently focusing on completing the first phase of the project valued at P100 million. It would need to spend P200 million more to complete the entire project.
The IT Park which was approved by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority for fiscal incentives, will feature commercial areas, office buildings and call centers. The first phase has 51 lot spaces, 37 lots of which were already sold.
Selling out the 51 lots would translate to sales of over P400 million on its first year of operations alone. When completed, the company will start to develop the remaining areas for up to four phases.
The IT Park is located within the Jubilation New Biñan and sells commercial lot areas of 600 to 700 square meters each priced from P8 million to P10.5 million. It also retails lots of from 200 square meters to 400 sq.m. priced between P3 million and P7 million.
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